


After months of silence

by naminethewitch



Category: South Park
Genre: Fluff, Happy birthday Butters!, M/M, Social Media, a lot of characters are mentioned, but only Kenny actually makes an apperance, just something small
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-11
Updated: 2018-09-11
Packaged: 2019-07-11 01:52:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,452
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15962159
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/naminethewitch/pseuds/naminethewitch
Summary: Kenny, Karen and Butters disappeared a few months ago. Since then nobody has heard anything from them. Their phones are disconnected and their social media is dead.On the 11th September, Kenny McCormick uploads a video to Instagram.





	After months of silence

For a few months, nobody heard anything from Kenny and Karen McCormick, nor from Leopold ‘Butters’ Stotch. All three of them disappeared together one night along with the old pickup truck Kenny had been fixing for over a year. Stephen and Linda Stotch of course tried to get their son back, with half-hearted support from the McCormicks (meaning Carol did her best to help, Stuart gave up after half a day), but nothing came of it, the police couldn’t find any leads as to where the kids had run off to. The trio’s phones were disconnected and all of their social media accounts went dead that night. Until the 11th September, Butters’ 18th birthday. On that day, Kenny McCormick uploaded a video to his Instagram.

 

_The video is clearly filmed by Kenny himself. He is grinning into the camera, showing off his crocked teeth. His orange parka is absent, instead he is shirtless and his hair is in the open and wild, the apparent wind doesn’t help. The colour is lighter now then a few month ago and healthier, too. The same can be said about his skin; Kenny is quite tan now, but not too much so. His blue eyes seem more lively and fit with the ocean that can be seen behind him. Kenny seems to be walking along a well visited beach with kids running past and a lot of background noise._

            “Hey there guys and gals, it’s been a while!” Kenny greets, saluting with the hand that isn’t holding the camera up. “I’m sure y’all are wondering where I’ve been. Short answer: I’m in L.A.!” _He turns the camera 360°, showing more of the beach and ocean, as well as a busy street to his right that is lined with palm trees._ “To explain why I’m here, I need to go back a bit,” he continues once the camera is focused on him again. “Y’all should know by now that I’m pan. If not, I, Kenneth ‘Kenny’ McCormick, am pansexual. What you don’t know is that I’ve been dating Butters for 2 years, 3 months and 18 days. Yes, I keep count, shut up. Anyway, we decided to keep quiet about it because of his parents; they sent him to that stupid camp when they thought he was bi-curious, no way would they like to hear he’s actually gay and dating the poorest kid in town. So the only one we told was Karen, well more like she figured it out and I couldn’t lie to her, so yeah…” _Kenny pauses, smiling fondly at the memory._

            “Back to the story though. After we started dating, I often snuck into his room since he was grounded so often that we couldn’t really spent time together otherwise. And that’s when I really understood just how batshit crazy his parents are. I mean, I knew they had a few screws loose before but they are borderline insane. So I decided that I had to get Butters out of there as soon as possible. I couldn’t wait for graduation. I got a few jobs to get my licence and to buy my truck. Repairing it wasn’t easy and I didn’t get all the parts I needed entirely legally, but it was worth it. Once I got the car running, I convinced Butters to come along, took Karen with us and we were off.” _Again Kenny pauses. He’s reached the parking lot and hops on top of the hood of the same pickup truck he was just talking about, though it seems to have been painted, the rusty red is now a lot brighter. His expression changed to a thoughtful one._

“It was so weird coming here… Leaving South Park for good always seemed impossible for some reason. We left early in the morning and arrive late in the evening; we didn’t even need to stop at a motel! It was just so weird…” _Kenny drifts of for a second, then his grin returns._ “Not that it matters, really. We settled in just fine. Butters and Karen both love their new schools and my jobs are actually fun! Oh yeah, I decided I won’t finish high school. I don’t really have a reason to. ‘S not like I can even afford to go to college, I want Butters to go though.” _Kenny was now resting his head on one of his knees that he’d drawn up, revealing that he was wearing simple jeans shorts that went up to his knees. His eyes that until then had been focused on the beach behind the camera wandered back to the lens._

            “Now, I bet y’all are wondering how I managed to get enough money to settle the three of us comfortably in L.A., plus getting both Butters and Karen into good schools. Thing is, I can’t give you all the details on that one. I can tell you that I got help from a benefactor. Her name is Miss Lilith and she pretty much handled everything about housing to schools and my jobs when we got here. She’s not doing it for free, of course, but her price is reasonable and I’m handling it, so Butters and Karen don’t have to worry. Oh yeah, shout out to Damien at this point for introducing me to her! Though I guess he won’t see this…” _Kenny looks into the distance for a second before he seems to have an idea._ “Pip will though, probably! Hey, Pip, if you see this, tell Damien thanks from me.“ _Kenny grins and winks at the camera._

            “Another question you guys probably have is why I decided to tell y’all this now, after months of silence. It’s simple really: We have no reason to hide anymore. I’m sure a lot of you forgot but today is Butters birthday. With him being 18 now, his parents can’t force him to come home anymore. I mean they can try if they want, I wouldn’t recommend it though. Miss Lilith has her ways and yes, that is indeed a threat. Do what you want with that info. Anyway, I know that Karen’s still underage and technically my parents can come for her, but seriously, Mom and Dad, if you care about us even a little bit, leave us be. We’re a lot happier here. We eat regularly, we have hot water and we don’t freeze half to death in the night. I’ll send you some money if that’s what it takes but leave Karen with me.” _Kenny’s expression is entirely serious and his eyes are fixated on the camera. They light up when he changes the subject._

“Now, I think I explained the situation well enough for now. I’ll be heading home to celebrate with my sister and my boyfriend, I already missed too much due to work. All three of us are gonna be back online tomorrow, I promise. We also have new phone numbers, so if you pm us, we might give them out.” _Kenny pauses and seems to think about something._ “Yeah, I think I covered everything. I’ll see y’all tomorrow.” _His grin returns and he looks straight into the camera again._ “Happy birthday, Buttercup. I know I told you this morning and I’ll tell you again when I get home but three times the charm.” _Kenny winks before he raises his and waves._ “Bye for now!” _The video ends._

            The comments on the video explode within minutes. Cartman is calling them disgusting fags; Kyle tells him to shut up and tells Kenny how relieved he is that they’re ok. Stan agrees with his SBF and wishes them the best of luck. Craig just sends them the middle finger emoji, Tweek adds that he knows that Trisha will be relieved to know that Karen is ok; Trisha also leaves the middle finger emoji in response. Token simply congratulates them. Clyde calls the whole thing unfair, he wants to go to L.A., too, and Jimmy makes fun of him for being immature. Timmy just writes ‘Timmy!’. Wendy tells them to just ignore Cartman and says that she’s very happy for them. Bebe sends them a bunch of hearts.

            Oddly enough none of the parents chime in. However, there were rumours that there were the sounds of things crashing and breaking as well as shouting to be heard from the Stotch residence that night. Kenny, Karen and Butters didn’t hear anything about it until the next day. They sat in their apartment around the kitchen table. Butters was unpacking his presents while the cake Karen baked for him sat in front of them. They had a small, private celebration and none of them remembered ever being this happy before.


End file.
